Digital InnovationsImaging With Mac OS XLive From San Francisco Its A Mac World Expo 2002

"The new electronic interdependence
recreates the world in the image of a global village."--Marshall McLuhan

Home to a diverse, inquisitive
people who openly embrace the "differently"-ness of Macintosh computers,
San Francisco is the perfect place for MacWorld Expo 2002. I'll leave
the Zen-like question of whether the trade show was half-empty or half-full
of exhibitors for the pundits to decide, but the space in Moscone Center
that was occupied was packed with enthusiastic crowds of Macophiles.

The big hardware news was Apple
Computer's launch of an all-new iMac with 15" LCD screen and 700MHz (an
800MHz chip is optional) G4 processor. Steve Jobs also announced a new
and improved iBook laptop with a 14" screen. The original 12.1" screen
model is still available with a lower price tag. As we went to press,
Apple Computer announced speed bumps for its G4 computers, including a
dual 1GHz model. More information about Apple's new computers can be found
at www.apple.com.

Image Software For OS X
Some pundits decided there's just an imager's dozen of image-editing programs
for the Mac but MacWorld Expo showed there was more than 12, starting
with Mac OS X native versions of Corel's PHOTO-PAINT 10 (www.corel.com)
and the innovative TIFFany3 and free PixelNhance from Caffeine Software
(www.caffeinesoft.com).

After being neglected for years,
Equilibrium (www.equilibrium.com)
produced an all-new DeBabelizer Pro 5 for Mac OS X--or as chairman Jobs
calls the latest update "OS Ten dot One"--as well as offering a version
for Microsoft Windows XP. DeBabelizer Pro 5 is bristling with new features
that let you acquire images from different sources, edit and optimize,
and then convert the resulting file into one of more than 100 image, information,
or digital video formats for multiple platforms. DeBabelizer also lets
you publish web catalog press pages complete with HTML, thumbnails, and
JPEG files. This is must-have software for cross-platform imagers.

If you're looking for a free
image-editing program designed specifically for Mac OS X, download PixelNhance
from www.caffeinesoft.com.
This program has a deceptively simple interface that lets you compare
original and current settings in real time using a split-screen window.
Image options include brightness and contrast levels, color saturation,
tone, sharpness, and noise reduction. You can also drag and drop settings
as an OS X Action into Caffeine's (not free) TIFFany3, whose straightforward
interface belies its powerful capabilities to process Actions in the program's
"catalog." You can also mix and match an unlimited number of photographs
in layers, each having different file type, size, resolution, or color
space. TIFFany3 represents the first fresh take on imaging software since
the late lamented Live Picture, but without that program's dense interface.
You can download a demo of TIFFany3 along with the free Curator photo
browser program from Caffeine's web site.

Designed for Mac OS X, Apple
Computer's iPhoto is a free download from www.apple.com/iphoto.
This entry-level image-editing program lets you import, edit, save, organize,
print, and share digital photographs while maximizing OS X's look and
feel to make working with images as easy as Apple's iTunes plays music
files. You can use the program to order professionally processed prints
and enlargements up to 20x30", but iPhoto's most interesting feature may
be its page layout capabilities. You can choose from one of six built-in
book designs and iPhoto will automatically produce a book with one, two,
three, or four photographs (with captions) per page that can be ordered
online. For $29.99 you get back a linen-covered hardbound book with 10
pages. Additional pages are only $3 each.

Version 2.0 of Synthetik Software's
innovative Studio Artist image processing software (www.synthetic.com)
is optimized for OS 8 and 9 as well as OS X v10.1 and includes QuickTime
video tutorials and instructional guides. The program is built around
a new image processing engine and has a user-configurable image processing
toolkit. Studio Artist 2.0 includes many new image effects including Cartoon
Simplify, Adaptive Filtering, and Gradient Modulation, new color transformational
mapping, white balance, and matte keying for still and video applications.

Other image enhancement products
to watch out for are PhotoRetouch Pro by Binuscan (www.binuscan.com)
that includes such interestingly named tools as "Baby Skin." Its dust
removal tool called Vacuum is the best I ever seen. Asiva Photo (www.asiva.com)
is not an image-editing program in the traditional sense; it uses vector-based
enhancement technology to manipulate colors and lighting effects, sharpen
or soften details, or change the overall impression from eye-popping to
washed-out color. Asiva Photo has been optimized for the Power PC G4 processor
and is available for Mac OS 8.6 or OS X.

One booth constantly jammed
during the show was e-on Software (www.e-onsoftware.com),
whose Vue d'Esprit 4 had 'em standing in the aisles. I never got a chance
to see the program until they sent me a review copy after the show. Vue
d'Esprit 4 lets you create and render natural scenery in Bryce-like fashion.
The interface is different and has a steeper learning curve than Photoshop
Elements, but this OS X native program comes with two CDs full of models
and presets that will get you started creating your own 3D worlds in a
hurry.

Plug-Ins On Parade
Because it's specialized, you might think that Asiva Photo is a Photoshop
compatible plug-in and not a stand-alone program, but in fact plug-ins
seem to be in limbo. DeBabelizer Pro 5, because it's OS X native, is not
compatible with most Photoshop compatible plug-ins because, as of MacWorld
Expo 2002, there are few carbonized plug-ins. (Carbon is Apple's technology
that enables programs to run under Mac OS X or OS 8.9/9.) The only exception,
like all of Procreate's product line (www.procreate.com),
are KPT effects and KnockOut 2.0. Most companies are waiting for the next
release of Photoshop, which Adobe has promised will be OS native. One
developer I spoke with at MacWorld Expo said he thought this would happen
"this summer." When I asked him if it would be in July for MacWorld Expo
in New York, he said that was his "best guess."

Alien Skin Software (www.alienskin.com),
those creative and wacky dudes and dudettes from Raleigh, North Carolina,
added Splat! to their library of useful Photoshop compatible plug-ins
that includes the wonderfully indispensable Eye Candy 4000 and equally
useful Xenofex. Splat! is a smaller package of plug-ins that contains
six filters (Border Stamp, Edges, Fill Stamp, Frame, Patchwork, and Resurface)
and has lots of built-in presets and textures. With an interface similar
to Eye Candy 4000, Splat! lets you add lots of special graphic effects,
such as adding "real" mattes and frames to digital photographs. Alien
Skin Software will release carbonized versions of Eye Candy 4000 Splat!
after Adobe ships the next version Photoshop are currently working on
an improved Xenofex 2. >

Indispensable Utilities
Britain's SoftChaos' WorkStrip X (www.softchaos.com)
combines the functionality of Apple's Control Strip with the navigational
capabilities of Power On Software's Action Files (www.poweronsoftware.com)
with a special emphasis on display and preview of image, video, and sound
files (including MP3). A key feature of WorkStrip is its use of "workspaces"
that aid users in tracking files and Internet activities by collecting
them into meaningful groups. WorkStrip X allows users to bookmark Internet
sites and export all or part of a workspace to other computers. It's a
must-have productivity utility for all Mac OS users. WorkStrip X should
be available by the time you read this and a trial version of WorkStrip
1.5 for Mac OS 9 can be downloaded from their web site.

Creo (www.creo.com)--you
may remember them as Creo Scitex of pre-press renown--offers productivity
enhancement with its new Six Degrees software that automatically keeps
track of project-related files on your computer by linking those that
are related. Six Degrees is based on the concept that everything you work
on for a given project is related and the program looks for and tracks
files with similar names or files in the same folder. There is no need
to enter data, configure applications, or change your work routines. The
program then allows you to find e-mail, files, and even people related
to a project. Six Degrees works with the Microsoft entourage, but other
e-mail clients will be supported. This truly innovative software cuts
through desktop clutter to enhance productivity without imposing any kind
of structure on your normal work style. There will also be a Windows XP
version.

Extensis' upgraded Portfolio
6 (www.extensis.com)
is a professional-level Digital Asset Management (DAM) program that lets
photographers and other design professionals share, organize, retrieve,
and distribute any files they create. Its FolderSync feature lets you
copy, move, or delete files without leaving the work environment and any
files that are moved onto a network or local machine are tracked, so catalogs
are synchronized with the actual files on disk. When designing a web page,
writing an e-mail, or creating a presentation, you can access a Portfolio
catalog to search for a specific image and copy it into a document by
dragging it from a floating palette. Download a demo from the Extensis
web site and try it for yourself.

Postscript
I left this year's MacWorld Expo with a sense of renewal, rejuvenated
by the enthusiasm of my fellow Mac heads and more convinced than I ever
was that it was time to stop worrying and learn to love Mac OS X. It's
fitting that during the Expo's run, the San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art's exhibition of "Ansel Adams at 100" was closing. On one of the show's
last evenings, I had dinner with Macintosh guru Kevin Elliott (www.macmdcare.com)
and his wife Janet at Cliff House in Big Sur and before dinner we watched
the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. On the deck outside the restaurant,
we watched a young man, who had biked to the site, set up a Mamiya RB67
on a carbon-fiber tripod. He carefully measured the light with a spot
meter, inserted a Cokin P-sized filter into a holder, and made several
exposures onto a film back. Maybe he went back to his darkroom to produce
carefully handcrafted black and white prints, but it's just as likely
he scanned the film, edited it with computer software, and made archival
prints on watercolor paper with an ink jet printer. Hey, it's San Francisco
and the MacWorld Expo.